Eyeshield 21 01: Five Years Gone
by rylansato
Summary: Hiruma Ichigo, little brother to Hiruma Yoichi, has plans to win the upcoming Christmas Bowl but the American Football Club has very little members since the days of his brother's team. He needs to get a team together and train them before the tournament.
1. New American Student

Eyeshield 21: Five Years Gone

A man ran down the street wearing a green hooded sweat shirt and black windbreaker pants. It was a quarter past 3 in the morning and raining hard. The wind picked up and caused the rain to hit hard against him, stinging his exposed skin. He practically ignored it, with his mind on other things. He had trouble sleeping as he always did the night before the first day of school. It wasn't something he just picked up, it happened every night before the first day of school since he first entered school when he was young. He wasn't sure if it was excitement or nervousness. It was probably a combination of both. He was entering high school with a bunch of people he had never met. Not to mention the fact that he had been sent to live with his mother, who was living in Japan. Not only was he entering a new school but he was in a new country as well.

As he ran, he noticed a flyer that was taped to the wall. The flyer was on a green sheet of construction paper that looked like it was just recently put there. With the exception of water damage caused by the rain, the flyer was in perfect condition. The runner looked down the street and noticed that every couple of meters, another flyer was posted along the wall. He stopped and looked at one of the flyers and a grin began to form on his face.

"American football club at Deimon Senior High School is looking for new members." He said quietly to himself. "Looks like this country won't be so bad after all."

The following day was bright and sunny with no cloud in the sky. There was no evidence of the over night storm. It was as if the storm never happened. A teacher of a classroom smiled and extended his arms outward to the left presenting a new student to the classroom.

"Class, this is Ryan Grandon. He just moved here from America and will be attending this school." The teacher's attention turned to the new student. "Pick any seat in the class."

Ryan slightly bowed. "Thank you, Mr. Umino." He quickly surveyed the room and found a seat near the window. Once he sat down, he noticed a rather cute, crimson eyed girl sitting to his right. She glanced over catching him in the act of staring at her. He quickly turned away from her, directing his gaze to the window. She leaned towards him and whispered to him.

"I'm Sohma Kurenai. Nice to meet you, Grandon-san." She said.

"Nice to meet you too, Kurenai. Eh, I mean Sohma-san."

Kurenai smiled at him. "You can just call me Kurenai."

Ryan returned the smile. "And you can just call me Ryan."

A short time later, the bell had rung signaling that it was lunch time. Some of the students left the room. Ryan wasn't sure exactly what to do so he just stayed at his desk. He saw that Kurenai had pulled out a small container that was wrapped in a decorated fabric. She untied the knot and revealed a small oval shaped black box. She pulled the lid off of it, revealing its contents. The smell of tempura and rice immediately fill the air and teased Ryan's nostrils. It reminded him that he had an orange on him so he decided to pull that out and eat it.

Another student came over and sat down at the desk behind Ryan. He tapped Ryan on the shoulder and extended his hand as soon as he looked back at him. He looked a bit taller than Ryan, judging by how far he was leaning towards him. His hair was long and in a pony tail. He wore the standard green jacket, white shirt and tie uniform but his tie was not tied and just hung around his neck.

"The name's Chris." He said. "I'm not a local either. My parents and I just moved here last year. What's your story."

"Military brat." Ryan said with a grin. "My mother was stationed over here when she was in the military and ended up living over here. I was sent by my father to live with her."

"Why's that?" Kurenai asked.

Ryan hesitated a bit. "Eh, I'd rather not say."

"Oh." Kurenai said.

"Well, if you stick with me, then you'll be all right." Chris said.

"Is that so?" Ryan asked. "You're not one of those types who says that to the new people and they end up getting in trouble, are you?"

Before Chris could respond Kurenai spoke up. "Chris-kun is a real friendly person. He makes friends really fast. I've known him since he moved here and he's not a troublemaker." Her voice seemed a bit protective and Ryan picked up on it.

"Ah, I was actually joking about the question but that is also good to know." He said.

After school had ended, Ryan walked alone on his way home. Kurenai and Chris lived in the opposite direction which was the reason they weren't walking with him now. He was glad he made friends on the first day, which made things easier.

He kicked a rock down the road as he walked, keeping to his thoughts. This country was very different from America but it intrigued him. His thoughts kept shifting from topic to topic as he walked. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a roar of cheers.

He looked in the direction of the cheers and saw a high school stadium.

_Must be a soccer match. _He thought to himself.

He walked over to the gate and to his surprise it wasn't a soccer match, it was an American football game. He hadn't realized the Japanese played American football.

He loved watching football as well as playing it but professional football in the States had become less and less appealing because the commissioner of the league had become too focused on money and supposed safety issues that when a quarterback was tackled, the referees could judge it to be too hard of a hit and penalize the attacking player.

Ryan sat down in the bleachers of the home team that was the Seibu Wild Gunmen. The opposing team was the Bando Spiders. Their uniforms reminded Ryan of Spider-Man's costume. Ryan noticed the score was 28-6 and it was still in the first quarter.

_Hmmm…Seibu must have one hell of an explosive offense. Either that or Bando really isn't all that good._

"Hey, Deimon student." A voice called. Ryan looked to his right and saw two more people wearing the same uniform as he was. The one closes to him was motioning to him to come to them.

He got up and moved the twenty some feet and sat next to them.

"What's up?" Ryan asked.

"You're the new kid from America, right?" The one next to him said.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm Ryan Grandon." He said.

"The name is Miyazawa Arima. This guy over here is Hiruma Ichigo."

Ryan looked past Arima and saw a spiky haired kid with pointed ears and a sharp grin. Ryan also noticed that Arima wore the school's uniform correctly as Ichigo wore it without the tie.

"So what brings you to the stadium, Ryan?" Arima asked.

"Curiosity. I'm curious to see how the Japanese plays American football." Ryan said. "I see that Seibu is really knocking Bando into the dirt." His eyes shifted back to the field where the Gunman offense was coming back onto the field. The quarterback dropped back and almost immediately launched the ball twenty five yards to the receiver. "The Gunman quarterback is also holding back."

Arima and Ichigo looked at each other. "How would you know that?" Arima asked.

"I have some experience at the cornerback position." Ryan said. "I can read both the quarterback and the receiver. And with the score the way it is now, he could've hit the receiver that was running the post route, who had also beat the corner off the line and it would've been a touchdown. I seriously doubt he didn't see the receiver."

Arima and Ichigo shared another look and they both smiled. Arima turned back to Ryan. "How would you like to join the American football club at our school?"


	2. Recruitment

Ichigo, Arima and Ryan sat in the Devil Bats club house and locker room. Ichigo leaned back in his chair with his feet on the table. Arima and Ryan sat with their hands clasped with more serious expressions on their faces.

"So you mean to tell me that we are the only three members of the team?" Ryan asked.

Arima nodded. "Yeah. A few years ago, Ichigo's older brother, Yoichi brought a group of rag tag people to form the team. Like us, they started with two players going into their second year and they came across a first year who could run a four two forty."

"A four two forty?" Ryan asked. "That's really fast for high school. Hell, there aren't even pro athletes who can pull off that kind of speed."

Arima continued. "His name was Kobayakawa Sena or to everyone else Eyshield Twenty-One."

"Eyeshield Twenty-One?" Ryan said as he looked to the wall and saw a poster of a running back wearing the Devil Bats uniform with the number 21 and an eye shield.

"Ever since the players of that team left because of graduation, the members of the team dwindled. The year after everyone left, people still had the fire to play for the Devil Bats but didn't have the same intensity or the skill to beat the other teams. They entered the fall tournament and lost to the Ojou White Knights in the first round. Since then, no one really wanted to play."

"Why do you guys want to play?" Ryan asked.

Ichigo remained silent as he chewed on his toothpick. Arima spoke up. "Ichigo has his own reasons that he has yet to voice but I play because I want to be acknowledged as one of the greatest high school players to ever play. The man I looked up to growing up was a man by the name of Shin Seijuro. He played for the White Knights and was the rival of Eyeshield Twenty-One. I even play his position at linebacker."

Acknowledging Arima's will to play and accepting Ichigo's silence as a reason, Ryan went back to the issue at hand. "Okay, so we need to get at least eight more people in this club to even be considered a team." Ryan said. "What about a coach?"

"We don't have one." Arima said. "We'll need one though, especially if we are getting a group of people who have probably never held a football before."

"Don't worry about that." Ichigo said finally.

Arima and Ryan looked at him. "What?"

Suddenly, Ichigo pulled out two desert eagle hand guns, one in each hand and pointed them at Ryan and Arima. "Did I fucking stutter? Don't worry about that."

"Where the hell did the gun come from?" Ryan asked.

"It's a Hiruma thing. His older brother does the same thing."

"I've also scheduled a game against the Taiyo Sphinx the day after tomorrow." Ichigo said lowering the guns out of sight. Ryan still wondering where the guns came from.

"THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW?" Arima and Ryan shouted in unison. Ichigo's only response was a smirk. Ryan and Arime looked at each other in the eye, seeing the passion that the other had for the game. They knew there was little time to assemble a team and get the ready for the game.

Ryan stood up. "Okay then. I guess it's time that we found some players."

As Arima, and he assumed that Ichigo was as well, looking for more players, Ryan walked through the halls of Deimon High School asking people, he felt would be good for the team. So far, no such luck.

He saw a group of people standing next to the window and he recognized one of them as Chris from his class.

"Excuse me, would any of you like to join the American Football Club?"

One guy shook his head. "Nah, I'm not getting involved with Hiruma Ichigo." At that, another shook his head the same way but didn't give a response. Annoyed by being rejected, Ryan's gaze turned to Chris, hoping that he'd give a different response.

"Sure, I'll play, Mate. What position would you put me at?" He asked.

Ryan smiled, thankful that he agreed and gave him a quick look over. Chris was tall and thin and could probably run with a good speed. "Wide receiver."

A smile crept across Chris's face. "Good, when's our first game?"

"We're playing Taiyo the day after tomorrow." Ryan said.

Chris's eyes widened. "That soon?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, Ichigo doesn't waste any time."

"Hey, I'll play too." A voice said behind them. Chris and Ryan turned and looked at the source of the voice. Their casual look turned into a look of surprise.

Meanwhile, Arima, Ichigo and several others had gathered in the Devil Bats locker room. Ichigo had gathered two people and Arima had gathered five more. Arima had convinced the members of the schools rock music club to join, figuring they'd make good linemen even though they weren't overly large, he figured they made up for it in strength. Strumming away at guitars and drums, they'd have some muscle mass built up and playing Devil Bat football their muscles would grow.

Arima looked at the two that Ichigo had picked up and wondered how he got them to play. Since Ichigo was like his brother, Arima doubted that he had simply just gone up and asked them. He probably blackmailed them or something. Looking them over, he guessed one of them would be a good defensive back and the other would make a good tight end.

"I wonder where Ryan-san is? And if he had found anyone?" Arima asked.

"It's funny that you say that, Arima-san." Ryan said opening the door. "I have found two others and judging by the amount of people in this room, I'd say we have enough."

"Who did you get?" Arima asked.

Ryan stepped aside and let the first person through the doorway. Even Ichigo opened his eyes from his relaxed state to see who the new kid had recruited.

"First I found Saunders Chris as a wide receiver candidate." Ryan said. The long haired student originally from England stepped into the room with a slight wave to the others. Ryan continued. "You'll never guess who I found as well. They actually approached me but…" Ryan stopped in mid sentence when he saw himself dead to rights by a fully automatic machine gun held by Ichigo.

"Get to the fucking point." Ichigo said.

Ryan stepped aside to let the other person through. When that person stepped through, everyone's eyes, including Ichigo's, widened. They stared in shock at the person who would complete their team.

"May I present, Sohma Kurenai."


	3. Unexpected Practice

"You want to play American football?" Arima asked.

Kurenai nodded. "Yes. I've always loved watching American football but never got the chance to play. And when I heard Ryan-san asking Chris-kun about playing, I knew it was my chance."

The rest of the team shrugged. Ichigo stood up and faced the newest team members, in particular, the guys from the rock band club.

"You five will serve as the line. You may not be big but because of the constant playing of instruments makes you five perfect for it." He pointed to one. "Kiyomaru Akira, you'll be center. Takai Takuya, you'll be left tackle. Nakashima Katsuya, you'll be right tackle. Inoue Nobuto, you'll be right guard and Makasaki Shintaro, you'll be left guard."

The rock band club members were a bit unsure of what exactly to do. Arima picked up on their doubt. "You'll guys will protect the quarterback and open up holes in the defense to allow the runner to gain yardage. When you guys are on defense, you'll try and break through the offensive line and tackle the ball carrier."

Arima looked at the other two new members, Shuhei Yusuke and Ryoken Kyozo. They both had similar builds but Yusuke was just slightly bigger than Kyozo. Arima surmised that Yusuke would make a good tight end or linebacker while Kyozo would be a good third wide receiver or safety.

He glanced at Chris and knew that Chris would make a good receiver, using his height to his advantage. He didn't know how fast he was but even if he wasn't the fastest, Ichigo's training techniques would make him fast enough. His gaze then shifted to Kurenai. She had the typical build for a girl her age but he wasn't sure what position she would do the best in. She didn't look like she could take down anyone so putting her into the secondary with Ryan would be out of the question. He then guessed that she may have quick legs. His attention went to her legs and he stared at them intently.

"Ahem."

He looked up and saw her staring directly at him. His face turned from its normal color to a very deep red. "Oh sorry. I was..uh…trying to figure out what position you would be good playing."

Ichigo then pulled out an automatic machine gun and fired it into the air. "Time to practice. Go run laps."

The rest of the team sprinted out of the locker room and onto the field. Ichigo casually walked out of the locker room with a football in hand. As soon as the rest of the team had their backs to him, he launched the football into the air.

"HERE IT COMES!" He shouted. "CATCH IT AND BRING IT BACK TO ME! TACKLE WHOEVER CATCHES IT!"

The team looked back and saw the football in the air. Chris and Ryan sprinted on ahead to see who would be the one to catch it. They both leapt into the air at the same time. Ryan was sure he could catch it but he also knew nothing was certain yet. He positioned his hands into the standard catching formation and extended them to get them closer to the ball.

The ball was only inches away, when a pair of hands came from over top of him and snagged it from his grasp. He turned his head to see the grinning face of his teammate Chris. The two of them landed and Ryan turned around to make the tackle.

As soon as he extended his arms to wrap around him, something blew past both of them, stealing the ball. They both looked to see Kurenai running full speed past them with the ball tucked into her arm.

"Damn she's quick." Ryan said running after her.

Arima ran up to her to make the tackle but she quickly sidestepped him and avoided his reach. Kyozo, one of the new members stood directly in front of herl She noted Kyozo's quickness. She stopped for only a fraction of a half of a second right in front of him. Then she took off to the right, knowing that the other new member, Yusuke was right there waiting for her. He dove at her feet but she hurdled over his arms and continued running.

She looked ahead to see the rock band club members or more appropriately the offensive line running at her. She spun past Akira, juked Nobuto and Takuya, and ran around Shintaro and Katsuya. All that was ahead of her was open field. She continued running until she reached Ichigo and handed him the ball. He had a big devilish smile spread across his face.

"You're the running back, Eyeshield Twenty-One."

Hours later, the sun had finally set, which Ichigo had said would be the end of practice. The team sat inside the locker room, completely exhausted. Some were lying on the floor, while others sat in their lockers or against the wall. A few of the guys had pealed their shirt off so they'd cool down faster. Kurenai wanted to take her shirt off as well but she wasn't wearing a sports bra, otherwise she would have. She hadn't really expected to practice today.

Ryan leaned his head against the wall with a wet towel over his head. "I don't think I worked out this much even during my three a day practices in middle school."

"I know what you mean. He had us do everything in the book." Arima said.

"I feel like I just ran to my home country and back. I feel totally knackered."

Ryan looked at his comrade because of his word use. He understood what he meant by it but it still was a bit humorous to hear someone use words like that. "I'm still trying to get used to your word use."

"You'll catch on, mate." Chris said. "But going back to how much we worked out today, I think Ichigo-san is definitely off his trolley."

"Where is he, anyway?" Kurenai asked.

Arime shook his head. "He didn't say. He just left after practice was over."

"That reminds me." Ryan said. "What about our coach? Who's our coach?"

Before any of them could respond, they heard a shout outside. It wasn't a cry or a demeaning type of yell. It seemed more like a victory yell.

"YEEEEE HAAAAA!"

The door flew open and the figure stood their with an automatic machine gun in each hand, firing them towards the sky. He had spiky blonde hair, piercings, pointed ears, sharp teeth and a giant devilish smile that would make the devil himself cower in fear. Arima recognized him immediately.

Hiruma Yoichi.


	4. Getting Ready For Kickoff

"Wait, he's our coach?" Arima asked.

Ichigo nodded. Ryan wasn't sure what to expect or how to react. He only knew of Yoichi from what Arima told him. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. With the stories he heard about Yoichi taking the Devil Bats to the Christmas Bowl and winning, with the help of the other members on the team, he went with thinking it was a good thing.

Yoichi fired his guns once more. "First thing, we're going to kill the Taiyo Sphinx." He then turned and headed out of the locker room.

"What's the second thing?" Kurenai asked.

"I've entered us in the spring tournament."

"When is that?" Arima asked.

"Next week." He said all to calmly.

Everyone dropped their heads. They knew that Hiruma was going to run them like dogs until the tournament.

"At least, he gave us some time to get ready before the tournament" Ryan whispered to Chris.

Two days later, the team prepared for their game against the Taiyo Sphinx. They sat in the locker room wondering when their coach was going to arrive. They didn't even have their uniforms yet. Arima assumed that they would just wear the old ones but apparently they had been misplaced.

Suddenly the door swung open with Hiruma in the doorway. He held two boxes. One on each shoulder and his hands gripping the sides. His wife Mamori walked in carrying another box. They set all three boxes on the table.

He opened the box that Mamori set down, revealing black and red clothing. He pulled out the top piece of clothing that was red with a black stripe going down the sides. The top of the stripe started just above the chest as a thin point and then curved down below the arm and got bigger as it went down the side of the jersey. The word Devil Bats was stitched in small, black lettering in between the two points of the stripe. The number on the jersey was thick and black colored with a white outline. Hiruma turned the jersey to reveal the last name of the player stitched with black lettering into the back of the jersey above the number. This particular jersey was his little brother's, Ichigo, with the number 15.

He slapped his hands on the box. "Jerseys." He then slapped the other box. "Pants." His hand hit the third box. "Helmets."

Ichigo was the first to get to the box that held the pants. The pants were the same red color as the jerseys and there were stripes on the side that lined up with the stripes on the jersey, which the stripes ended on the pants with a point that curved inward to just above the knee. Each player dressed up in their new gear.

Ryan, who wore number 25, pulled out a set of yellow and black gloves that Arima and Chris noticed.

"Yellow and black gloves?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, I bought them not too long ago, just before I moved here. One of my favorite players from the American professional league, Hines Randle-El for the Pittsburgh Rivers, wears gloves just like these."

The three of them put on their helmets and looked at each other with smiles. The helmets hadn't really changed much with the red bat wings extending outward from the top of the face mask on top of a black helmet. The only change was the red facemask instead of the white color they sported a few years ago. Chris wore number 81 and Arima wore number 40. The adrenaline in their bodies began to course through them.

"Hey." Chris said. "Look."

The other two, as well as the rest of the team, looked at the doorway to see Kurenai walking in in full gear, wearing a green eye shield around on her helmet as well as the number 21.

Suddenly, they heard the announcer on the speakers. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please get ready for your Deimon Devil Bats."

Hiruma nearly sprinted in. "YE HA! GET READY TO KILL THEM!"

The team lined up at the doorway that led onto the field. Next to the door was the poster of the original Eyeshield 21, Kobayakawa Sena, that played for the Devil Bats the year they went to the Christmas Bowl.

"Before you walk out this door, you are to touch that picture." Hiruma said.

"Let's go team. Do your best." Mamori said.

The team stood in a single file line as Coach Hiruma kicked open the door and as they were told, each player touched the poster with their hand before running out.

The team ran out onto the field as the crowd cheered in their seats. Ryan was amazed at how many students from their own school showed up. He was under the impression that not many people were interested in American football.

"I though we didn't have much support." Ryan said.

"We didn't." Arima replied. "However, I'm sure Coach Hiruma had a hand in getting everyone to come."

They all grouped together on the sidelines, directly across from the Sphinx team, where all of their players had a darker skin tone as well as purple paint around their eyes to mimic the eye of Ra.

Their jerseys were yellow and turquoise. Their pants were yellow and the jerseys sported both colors. The torso was striped with both colors and the shoulders were turquoise.

They weren't strongest team but they were still known for having one of the strongest lines in the high school league. Their line was huge and a lot bigger than the Devil Bats line.

Ryan knew from his middle school days that the size of the lineman didn't really matter, it was technique as well as strength. A person could be large but still lack technique going against a smaller person who had technique. Ryan hoped that this would be the case. It would be difficult to say when this team has only been together for a couple of days while the opposing team had probably been together for a lot longer than that.

"It's going to be tough getting through that line." Akira said.

"We'll take them down." Katsuya said.

The two coaches met on the field.

"Have a good game, Coach Hiruma."

"Tch, it won't matter unless we win."

"It's only a scrimmage." The opposing coach said.

"Winning is winning. This win will decide if we go to the Christmas Bowl or not." Hiruma said. At that, the two coaches turned and walked away from each other, heading towards their respective benches.

"HUDDLE UP!" Hiruma said approaching the bench. The team surrounded the coach. "We're going to kill them. We're going to win. YE HA!"

"YE HA!" The team shouted.

The team sprinted onto the field and lined up into a kickoff formation, ready to take on the Taiyo Sphinx.


	5. The First Score

The ball had been kicked off to the Sphinx and they had made it to the twenty-seven yard line before being tackled by Yusuke Shuhei. It was time for the offense of the Taiyo Sphinx to go up against the defense of the Deimon Devil Bats.

The linemen of both sides lined up against each other. Arima and Yusuke stood in the middle as the linebackers and Ryan, Chris, Kyozo and Ichigo stood in the secondary, waiting for the receivers. However, Chris stood about seven yards away from his assigned receiver which was on the left side and Ryan stood only inches away from his on the right side. The Sphinx were running a typical I formation, which could be used for both passing and running plays.

The Devil Bats were running 5-2 defense. The 5-2 defense is usually used in short yardage situations going against the run. The defense loses one linebacker but gains another lineman to stack up against those on the offensive line. The Devil Bats weren't sure how the Sphinx were going to be deep in their own territory.

The Sphinx's quarterback, Kato Shiro was a first year sporting the number 11. He has long white hair that was a very tempting target to grab. He knelt down behind the center with his hands in position to receive the snap. Ryan stared down the quarterback and then shifted his gaze to the receiver.

"HUT!"

The ball was snapped and Kato dropped back for a pass. Both sides of the linemen battled each other in the trenches. Kyozo and Ichigo stood their ground as Chris backpedaled with the receiver. Arima dropped back a few steps to keep the middle covered. He looked to his right and saw that Yusuke had gone off to cover the wide open receiver that Ryan was supposed to be covering. His eyes shot back to where Ryan was.

As soon as the ball was snapped, Ryan took off dead sprint towards Kato. Kato cocked back his arm, ready for a pass. What he wasn't ready for, was Ryan coming up on him from his blindside. Ryan leapt in the air and tomahawk chopped Kato's arm that held the ball. Kato fell and released the ball. Akira, who was able to break through the distracted line, recovered the ball. It was now Deimon ball.

The announcer went crazy up in his booth. "Wow, on the very first play of the game, Deimon sent Grandon on a cornerback blitz and sacked Kato, who fumbled the ball. Deimon recovered the fumble."

Ryan and Chris high fived each other. "That was a good run, mate." Chris said.

"Coach Hiruma was the one who told me to do it on the first play. He said they wouldn't expect a blitz coming from me and to get to the quarterback even if I have to die." Ryan said.

"That's Hiruma for you." Arima said. He and Ryan pounded fists. "That was a good play. Now let's see what our offense can do."

Another set of players came out for Taiyo but the players of Deimon stayed out on the field with the exception of Arima. He and Kurenai traded places. As the Devil Bats lined up for offense, Kurenai lined up behind Kyozo and Ichigo, who was at quarterback. Kyozo knelt down into a three point stance at the full back position. The linemen on defense were the linemen on offense. Yusuke line up with the linemen as a tight end and Chris and Ryan were the two receivers.

"So you have another Eyeshield Twenty-One? Not only is she a girl but do you think that she'll get past our line, the best in the high school level in all of Japan." One of the linemen by the name of Ukiha Kuromaru. He was positioned right in the middle of the defensive line, going against Akira.

Akira looked to his right to the guard. "Yo, Nobuto. Why is it that every line, with the exception of us, always claims to be the best in Japan?"

"I don't know. I think it's a inferiority complex." Nobuto said.

Akira could see that Kuromaru was getting angry at how calm they were about facing Taiyo.

"Set. Set. HUT!" Ichigo yelled.

As soon as the ball was snapped, the play went into motion. Ichigo dropped back and held the ball with both hands on the right side of his head. He waited for either Chris or Ryan to break away from the cornerbacks that were guarding them. Kurenai had run up to the right and held position for a screen pass. Only the linebackers who hadn't moved yet, were keeping an eye on her in case she were to sprint forward for a pass.

One of Taiyo's outside linebackers came running in on Ichigo's blindside. The linebacker grinned as he got closer and closer to the quarterback, who made no move to avoid the approaching defender. It was as if Ichigo didn't know he was coming. The linebacker saw Kurenai heading towards him.

"Bah, do you think you can face me, little girl?" The linebacker said.

The linebacker was only inches away when he saw Ichigo looking at him with a smile on his face. Ichigo lowered the ball and Kurenai grasped it in her hands, protecting it. She then ran past the linebacker, who ended up being blocked by Ichigo, and ran around the left side towards the end zone.

Kurenai saw the rest of the defenders approaching her as she neared the goal line which was now fifteen yards away. Her speed increased as she got closer and closer. One of the cornerbacks approached her and was on her heels, practically keeping up with her. She knew that the cornerback would be able to tackle her before she reached the end zone, which was now ten yards away. She needed to close that gap quickly.

As soon as her foot had touched the five yard line, she leapt into the air at the same time the cornerback did and she extended the ball out with her right hand to enter the corner of the end zone as she was knocked out of bounds. She lifted her head from the ground and saw the red pylon had been knocked over. The referee came running up and extended his hands into the air. The Devil Bats and their fans cheered.

"TOUCHDOWN!"


	6. Just Before The Half

It was now the second quarter, with the score the same as it was from the beginning of the game. The Devil Bats had been stopped deep in Taiyo territory by a pass that was tipped at the line that sent the ball off course and into the hands of a defender. He was immediately tackled and Sphinx's ensuing drive took up the rest of the quarter as well as the beginning of the second quarter that ended with an interception in the end zone.

There was just over a minute left to play in the half and the Devil Bats were on their own twenty-five yard line. They needed to drive seventy-five yards to pay dirt.

Ichigo hiked the ball and dropped back with his the all held behind his head as if he was going to pass. Kurenai ran up as if she was going to block but at the last possible second, Ichigo lowered the ball and handed it off to Kurenai who ran to the gap between the guard and tackle. As soon as she got there, the hole closed up and she ran off to the right, alongside the offensive line and then ran up past the tight end to see a cornerback had doubled back in case it was a run. She ran up to him and then, suddenly spun past him to the left and gained five more yards before being tackled.

Ichigo looked at the clock before going into the huddle that read one minute seven seconds, and it kept running. He then turned his attention to the huddle.

"Okay, we've got time for two more plays maybe three, let's try and waste as much time as we can."

The Devil Bats lined up in the standard I formation. Ichigo shouted out the cadence and Akira hiked him the ball to begin the play. Ichigo dropped back looking like he was going to pass. Ryan and Chris took off up the field as the Sphinx's secondary hesitated wondering if Ichigo was going to pull the same stunt as before to get yardage or was he really going to pass.

They got their answer when they saw Kurenai and Kyozo take positions on either side of Ichigo, protecting him as he waited to throw to an open receiver. However, their answer came too late. Ichigo launched the ball like a bullet straight to Ryan, who was running an In route. He caught the ball, took a few steps, held out the ball slightly and tossed it into the hands of Chris who was going the opposite direction and then took off up field. The defense had committed to Ryan catching the ball and didn't expect Chris to get it. Chris had his sights set on the end zone and could make as long as he out ran his pursuers. He figured he had out ran them since he was running full sprint the opposite direction they were when he got the ball.

He turned his head to look behind him just in time to see the Sphinx's safety on his heals, with an out stretched arm. "Oh bloody hell." He said as he felt a hand grab his jersey and begin to slow him down.

The defender was able to get both arms around him and bring him to the ground at the Taiyo nine yard line. Chris was disappointed that he didn't score but he had gained a good bit of yardage.

Ichigo explained the next play in the huddle and afterwards, the team lined up in their respective positions. Everyone lined up the same except for Kyozo and Kurenai. Ichigo stood in the shotgun formation with his two running backs on both sides of him. Ichigo eyed the defense that was set up into the nickelback formation.

The nickelback formation is when a defense uses five defensive backs in a possible passing situation. The Devil Bats weren't necessarily in a passing situation but it would be a wise decision considering they were low on time, with only seconds to play before the half.

"SET! HUT! HUT!"

The ball was snapped and Ichigo almost immediately cocked back his arm to throw it to Chris. He thrust his arm forward but didn't let go of the ball. The receiver put up his hands as if he was ready to catch the ball as a decoy to bring the cornerback to him. Ichigo then brought down the ball and held it behind his back as Kurenai came up to take it.

"IT'S THE STATUE OF LIBERTY PLAY!" Players of the Sphinx shouted in hopes to get their teammates who hadn't realized what kind of play it was to run for the quarterback.

Kurenai ran out from behind Ichigo with her body hunched forward and her arms held against her chest. The defenders ran towards Kurenai as Ichigo took off for the end zone. It only took the defenders a second to realize that Kurenai didn't have the ball but Ichigo had it but it was too late. In the actual Statue of Liberty play, the quarterback will fake a pass and then as he his bringing the ball down, he will hand it off to the running back from behind his back and the running back will run it as far as he can go. In this case, Ichigo never handed the ball off to Kurenai, who ran off acting like she had the ball, faking out the defense. With the defense distracted just long enough, Ichigo was able to pull the ball out from behind his back, tuck it in his arm and run into the end zone.

The referee ran up the line that separated the field from the end zone. He then shot both arms in the air with his fingers pointed straight into the air. And the Devil Bats cheered once again.

"TOUCHDOWN!"


End file.
